Tainted water sickens two school workers

BOSTON
Two employees of a high school in South Boston were treated and released at a hospital Wednesday after drinking from a water cooler that contained "a white substance" in one of the school's second - floor hallways, police said. School police from Excel High School notified Boston police about the water cooler around 12:30 p.m. Two unidentified school employees who said they drank the water described it as strange tasting. The substance was identified as magnesium sulfate or Epsom salts, an FDA-licensed laxative that can be used in bathwater or cosmetics. Police could not say why they were in the water cooler. The incident is under investigation.

Boston police identified a shooting victim found dead Tuesday night on Armandine Street in Dorchester as Jova Guidroz, 27. Guidroz, a Dorchester resident, was found dead inside a house about 9:08 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No other details were released. His death remains under investigation.

Two homeless men living under a Jamaica Plain overpass started a fire yesterday afternoon to keep warm, but they were injured when the fire spread and destroyed their small camp, police and fire officials said. Firefighters were called to the site, the Forest Hills overpass near 500 Arborway, about 2 p.m. said Steve MacDonald, spokesman for the Boston Fire Department. It took about an hour to extinguish the fire, he said. Neither man was identified, and officials said they did not know their ages. One man was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for burns to one of his hands, and the other was treated for smoke inhalation at an unnamed hospital, officials said.

SUDBURY

The Lincoln-Sudbury High School sophomore accused of fatally stabbing a fellow student in January has been indicted on charges of first-degree murder, according to the Middlesex district attorney's office. John Odgren, 16, of Princeton is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court, where prosecutors plan to provide more details about the attack, said Corey Welford, spokesman for District Attorney Gerry T. Leone Jr. Odgren is accused of attacking James Alenson, 15, in a boy's bathroom with a knife Jan. 19. Alenson was pronounced dead at Emerson Hospital.

ABINGTON

A former Abington town treasurer broke state ethics laws by approving $13,000 in unemployment benefits for his defeated campaign rival, according to the State Ethics Commission. Paul Donlan, now the Scituate School Department's business manager, unseated Thomas Connolly as treasurer in a 2003 election, after which Connolly applied for unemployment benefits. Donlan approved them, even though officials who lose reelection aren't eligible for benefits. The Ethics Commission also said Donlan violated ethics laws by securing benefits for a former friend, portraying Connolly and Donlan as close until Donlan ran for Connolly's seat. (AP)

TAUNTON

A pregnant pit bull yesterday mauled a 10-year-old boy and a man who tried to intervene during the attack, Taunton fire officials said. The dog, taken into custody by local animal control officers off Indian Meadow Drive, bit the boy on the arm, causing multiple lacerations, fire officials said. He also bit a man in his 60s who tried to defend the boy. Fire officials did not release the names of either victim, both of whom suffered injuries not considered life-threatening. The boy's parents took him to Morton Hospital in Taunton, fire officials said, and the man drove himself to the same hospital.

PROVIDENCE

Governor Don Carcieri has abandoned a cost-cutting plan to force state workers to stay home without pay for four days this spring, saying opposition to the idea by numerous public officials had made it unrealistic to carry out. Carcieri sent a letter to legislative leaders late Wednesday indicating he would instead suggest an across-the-board pay cut of 1 percent for all state employees this year and 3/4 percent next fiscal year. (AP)